Anne Preston Bridgers (May 1, 1891 – May 3, 1967) was an American playwright, actress, and teacher.

Early years

Born in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...

, Bridgers was the daughter of Robert Rufus Bridgers, Jr., and Annie Preston Cain. She grew up in Adrian, Georgia. She attended

Mary Baldwin Seminary Mary Baldwin University (MBU, formerly Mary Baldwin College) is a private university in Staunton, Virginia. It was founded in 1842 as Augusta Female Seminary. Today, Mary Baldwin University is home to the Mary Baldwin College for Women, a resid ...

in Staunton, Virginia, and

Smith College Smith College is a private liberal arts women's college in Northampton, Massachusetts. It was chartered in 1871 by Sophia Smith and opened in 1875. It is the largest member of the historic Seven Sisters colleges, a group of elite women's c ...

Northampton, Massachusetts The city of Northampton is the county seat of Hampshire County, Massachusetts, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of Northampton (including its outer villages, Florence and Leeds) was 29,571. Northampton is known as an a ...

. She received a bachelor of arts degree from Smith in 1915.

Career

After graduating from Smith College, Bridgers became a public school teacher and part of the Selective Service Bureau. She later opened her own gift shop and also became the president of the Raleigh Community Players. She sold her gift shop in 1923 and then moved to New York where she attended drama school. For a while after 1923, she gained success as a theater actress as understudy to

Lynn Fontanne Lynn Fontanne (; 6 December 1887 – 30 July 1983) was an English actress. After early success in supporting roles in the West End, she met the American actor Alfred Lunt, whom she married in 1922 and with whom she co-starred in Broadway and We ...

on Broadway in ''Dulcy''. Her next two successful roles were in the plays ''Fall Guy'' and '' Broadway''. The first play she wrote was ''Norma'', then ''Coquette'', which was made into a 1929 film '' Coquette''. The Theatre Club awarded the play Coquette as ''"the most pleasing play of 1927–28"''. After leaving Broadway, she moved back to Raleigh in 1933 after traveling around Europe. She was a member of the board of the Literary and Historical Association, an editor of the ''Survey of Federal Records'', wrote for the ''

Raleigh Times The ''Raleigh Times'' was the afternoon newspaper in Raleigh, North Carolina. The history of the paper dates back to the ''Evening Visitor'', first published in 1879. The ''Visitor'' later bought out other rival afternoon papers, the ''Daily Pres ...

'', and wrote for the ''

News and Observer ''The News & Observer'' is an American regional daily newspaper that serves the greater Triangle area based in Raleigh, North Carolina. The paper is the largest in circulation in the state (second is the ''Charlotte Observer''). The paper has bee ...

''. She helped form the Raleigh Little Theatre.

Death

Bridgers died on May 3, 1967, and was buried at Oakdale Cemetery, Wilmington.

Papers

''The Ann Preston Bridgers Papers, 1915-1946'' are housed in the Southern Historical Collection at the University of North Carolina. It contains "correspondence, writings, newspaper and magazine clippings, photographs, and other materials" from Bridgers.

References

External links

Ann Preston Bridgers Papers, 1915-1946
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgers, Ann Preston 1891 births 1967 deaths American women dramatists and playwrights Burials at Oakdale Cemetery (Wilmington, North Carolina) Smith College alumni Mary Baldwin University alumni 20th-century American actresses Actresses from North Carolina American stage actresses American film actresses Writers from Raleigh, North Carolina